ROI in Less Than 3 Months

Innovation at Western Digital

Western Digital has long been at the forefront of game changing innovations. From the invention of the first hard drive to recent advancements in 3D NAND our journey of innovation continues to inspire those who dare to think big about the possibilities of data.

Furtherextending its value, innovation and reach into the data center market, Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ: WDC) today announced new additions to its data center solutions portfolio, giving customers the flexibility to design modern infrastructures and extract greater value from data. The new solutions include the ActiveScale™ 5.3 object storage system, extensions to the IntelliFlash™ N Series family of all-flash arrays, and the new Ultrastar® Serv60+8 hybrid storage server platform This broad portfolio provides the building blocks to rapidly deploy data center solutions for better performance, efficiency and TCO while opening up opportunities to capture, preserve, access and transform data in ways that were not previously possible.

Driven by the volume, velocity and variety of data, from edge to core, data centers are undergoing tremendous change as organizations try to find innovative ways to fuel growth while managing flat IT budgets. With new applications and use cases constantly emerging, driven by IoT, machine learning, AI and analytics, IT managers must design for the future. Addressing these needs, Western Digital's new offerings include:

ActiveScale™ 5.3 Object Storage System

Western Digital’s ActiveScale P100 and X100 systems represent the next-generation of object storage for petabyte-scale unstructured data growth. With ActiveScale 5.3 now supporting up to 19-nines of data durability, the system facilitates a "Data Forever" architecture, allowing customers to economically store petabytes of data over multiple generations of storage with confidence. New ActiveScale enhancements include Unified Data Access, a NFS interface for ingest and management of data in traditional file system format and for improving storage usage in environments with mixed file and object use cases. Hybrid cloud replication is new with built-in bucket-level replication from an on-premises ActiveScale system to an Amazon® AWS™ bucket. It also features 20 percent higher storage density for new and existing scale-up or scale-out configurations, delivering better economics and improved data center space efficiency. Western Digital is also introducing Docker™ container support to select customers for more efficient workload deployment closer to the data. Now available, the ActiveScale family starts at 864TB raw capacity and can scale to 63PB in a single namespace. Ideal uses cases include data collaboration, digital repositories for media workflows, analytics, machine learning, IoT, and tape and legacy NAS consolidation in backup and archive workloads.

IntelliFlash™ NVMe Flash Arrays

Businesses need to be faster and smarter in order to transform, innovate and evolve to succeed in the markets they serve. Time-to-decision and action are critical. As one of the first Unified, NVMe flash arrays to market, Western Digital’s IntelliFlash N Series is specially designed for real-time transactional applications, machine learning, artificial intelligence and deep analytics. Western Digital is introducing four new IntelliFlash N-Series systems to deliver extreme performance with exceptional economics for a wide range of enterprise workloads. Powered by IntelliFlash OS 3.9, the N Series portfolio can scale from 19TB to 1.3PB of solid-state storage. Version 3.9 leverages nearly a decade of innovation in flash data management to offer a full suite of capabilities including multiple protocols, data reduction, data protection and automated data healing. The new IntelliFlash N Series systems will be available later this year.

Ultrastar® Serv60+8 Hybrid Storage Server Platform

With a proven track record of adoption into software-defined storage (SDS) and big data environments around the world, Western Digital’s Ultrastar Data and Ultrastar Serv family of platforms are purpose-built for DIY, SDS and cost-sensitive environments. New to the family is the Ultrastar Serv60+8 high-capacity, performance-optimized storage server, representing a cornerstone in the company’s entry into the SDS server market. Designed for SDS archive, backup, media streaming, content repositories, and remote office and private-cloud environments, it features dual Intel® Xeon® scalable processors combined with 60 bays for SSD, HDD or hybrid drive configurations, and a dedicated high-performance, eight-bay SSD section that can accept SAS, SATA or NVMe SSDs for added data acceleration. Its design leverages more than 60 years of storage expertise and patented technologies, including ArcticFlow™ and IsoVibe™ technologies, which help improve reliability, maintain predictable performance, and enhance energy efficiency. The Ultrastar Serv60+8 storage server platforms start at 144TB and are now available, in multiple configurations, through the company’s network of worldwide distribution and channel partners.

The ActiveScale 5.3, IntelliFlash N Series and Ultrastar Serv60+8 offerings are natural extensions of Western Digital’s data technology leadership. The company’s unique differentiation and value-add comes from its ability to fine-tune and optimize a complete ecosystem of technologies, from silicon to systems, to deliver breakthrough value and performance for customers. By expanding the scope of innovation to encompass software, processing, interconnect, storage, mechanical and manufacturing disciplines, this unique Symbiotics Design™ approach delivers purpose-built products that provide the performance, reliability, total cost of ownership and sustainability demanded by data-centric environments today and tomorrow.

Supporting Quotes:

"Enterprises undergoing digital transformation are looking for improved efficiencies, and consolidating storage workloads onto fewer platforms, while continuing to meet performance, scalability and availability requirements. This is something CIOs are actively thinking about," said Eric Burgener, research vice president of Storage at IDC. "With this announcement, Western Digital is offering a range of modernized infrastructure that support key new technologies like NVMe, hybrid cloud replication and software-defined storage. These solutions can cost-effectively meet the needs of enterprises and cloud providers alike for block, file and object storage-based workloads in primary and secondary storage environments."

"In this rapidly changing, data-centric world, relentlessly driven by new technologies, environments, applications and use cases, IT managers must anticipate and implement solutions that enable and drive their future productivity and value creation capabilities," said Phil Bullinger, senior vice president and general manager of Western Digital’s Data Center Systems business unit. "With these new additions, expanding the breadth and depth of our portfolio, we are enabling our data center customers to build and scale their operations with the flexibility of complete systems for easy deployment, and scalable, storage server platforms for DIY SDS environments. These new capabilities and offerings further expand our commitment to reducing data center operating costs and delivering higher value to our customers."

Live Webinar: Beyond Object Storage – Facilitating a Data-Forever Architecture. Join this live webinar on June 28 at 9am PDT or 5pm BST, or June 29 at 12pm CST with Phil Bullinger and Stefaan Vervaet of Western Digital and Mark Peters of ESG to learn how to get the scale and economics needed to take control and realize the potential of unstructured data.

Become an Enterprise Channel Partner: Value-added resellers are encouraged to apply for the award-winning Western Digital Enterprise Partner Program and gain access to a comprehensive selection of resources to help build solutions that target specific markets and customer needs while growing business and maximizing profitability.

Western Digital creates environments for data to thrive. The company is driving the innovation needed to help customers capture, preserve, access and transform an ever-increasing diversity of data. Everywhere data lives, from advanced data centers to mobile sensors to personal devices, our industry-leading solutions deliver the possibilities of data. Western Digital® data-centric solutions are marketed under the G-Technology™, HGST, SanDisk®, Tegile™, Upthere™, and WD® brands.

Forward-Looking Statements

This news release contains certain forward-looking statements, including the expected availability, applications, benefits, capabilities, capacities, development, features, market, and performance of Western Digital products. There are a number of risks and uncertainties that may cause these forward-looking statements to be inaccurate including, among others: volatility in global economic conditions; business conditions and growth in the storage ecosystem; impact of competitive products and pricing; market acceptance and cost of commodity materials and specialized product components; actions by competitors; unexpected advances in competing technologies; our development and introduction of products based on new technologies and expansion into new data storage markets; risks associated with acquisitions, mergers and joint ventures; difficulties or delays in manufacturing; and other risks and uncertainties listed in the company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including our most recently filed periodic report to which your attention is directed. The company undertakes no obligation to update the information in this release in the event facts or circumstances change after the date of this release.

As used for storage capacity, one terabyte (TB) = one trillion bytes. Total accessible capacity varies depending on operating environment. Product specifications subject to change without notice. Not all products are available in all regions of the world.